It's a big difference from Conference USA. Not only is it competitive, but it is extremely deep.

That's why it's nerve-wracking; you've just got to sit there. As a coach, you're helpless. There's nothing you can do, but it's fun.

Individuals actually qualify independently to the NCAA championship. We have a number of individuals that I think have a great opportunity in their hands to try to achieve that, which is a huge accomplishment in swimming.

I can honestly say that we've had the best year that we have ever had here in my tenure. We've performed very well throughout the year. Men and women, both sides, have really swum at a whole different level.

It's an incredibly inviting place to be. It's comfortable, clean, new, vibrant, and bright. At Crawford it was hard for us to develop a home. It was more of a place we went to practice and then got out of there. I really appreciate that my office is right here. It makes a big difference. We can train long course, which is really a big plus. We have a nice locker room. It has been great for the team. They feel like big-time athletes.

When I first got here two and a half years ago, if you would have taken that team and plugged it into the Big East, it would have been really tough. We are going to go and race tough. Our goal is to finish the year in the top 30 in the country. We accomplished that last year, on the men's side, finishing 27th. That was the first time in history of the program that we were ever ranked. Last year we broke 32 school records, mostly in the conference meet. Our goal is to try to top that, and to get better as a team.